Tom 'Durrrr' Dwan
Tom Dwan (born July 30, 1986 in Edison, New Jersey) is an American professional poker player who regularly plays online in the biggest No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha games primarily on Full Tilt Poker, where he plays under the screen name "durrrr". Dwan has cashed in the money in live tournaments earning nearly $1 Million to date and has appeared on NBC's National Heads-Up Poker Championship and the fourth season of Poker After Dark. Dwan grew up in Edison, New JerseyPajich, Bob. "Lee Watkinson Wins Aussie Millions Event No. 7", CardPlayer.com. January 11, 2008. Accessed November 10, 2008. and as of 2007 resides in Fort Worth, Texas , he attended Boston University as an English major, before dropping out to pursue poker full time. Poker Online poker In March 2004 at the age of 17, Dwan began playing online poker with a $50 bankroll focusing initially on $5 sit-and-go's. After finding he could beat these games he turned to cash games where he grinded through the low stakes, building up his bankroll before reaching his current level of play which is often $300/$600 stakes in which he plays against other notable professional players such as Phil Ivey, David Oppenheim, David Benyamine, John Juanda, Patrik Antonius and Brian Townsend. Dwan has said that since playing online he has never gone broke. On 26th October 2008, during a session of $500/1000 No-Limit Hold'em on Full Tilt, Dwan played the biggest pot to date in online poker, $723,938, losing with KK versus Urindanger's AA.http://www.highstakesdb.com/reports.aspx According to HighStakesDB.com Tom Dwan earned $5,36 million on FullTilt in 2008. http://www.highstakesdb.com/reports.aspx Million dollar challenge In January of 2009 Dwan issued a $1,000,000 challenge to play anybody heads up for 50,000 hands 4-tabling 200/400 No-Limit or higher. If his opponent is ahead after 50,000 hands, Dwan agrees to give them $500,000 plus an additional $1,000,000. If Dwan is ahead he will keep only their $500,000. In an interview on January 6, 2009 by Barry Greenstein on Poker Road Radio Phil Ivey has said that he is willing to accept the challenge. In an interview published on January 7, 2009 Patrik Antonius told CardPlayer magazine that he has also accepted the challenge. David Benyamine told CardPlayer magazine that he is still considering taking the challenge. Dwan has laid out some preliminary stipulations to the challenge. # That a minimum of $200/$400 stakes are played in either No Limit Texas hold 'em or Pot-Limit Omaha. # A player can change to another table at anytime if their chip stacks are greater than 250 big blinds. # A player must reload when their chip stacks fall below 75 big blinds. # Money won during the matches will be kept by that player plus the bonus wager. e.g. (in an example Dwan gives) if he was up by $750,000 by the end of the poker challenge, he would keep that amount plus an additional $500,000 from his opponent - If instead he lost $750,000 his opponent would keep their 750,000 plus $500,000 with an additional bonus of $1,000,000 for a total of $2,250,000. # That the same stakes are played # The challenge is not open to Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond. Live poker When Dwan was 19 in September 2005, he cashed in his first live tournament, where he finished 12th in the £3,000 no limit Texas hold 'em Main Event of the European Poker Tour's second season held in London, earning £7,000 ($12,398). Due to age restrictions in the United States his next cash wasn't until he was 21 years old at the World Poker Tour's 2007 World Poker Finals, $9,700 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event, where he finished 4th earning $324,244. In January 2008, Dwan at the Aussie Millions A$3,000 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys event finished second winning A$103,200 ($90,716) and later coming in 62nd place in the A$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event winning A$25,000 ($21,976). Dwan finished second to James Michael Sowers at the 2008 WPT Borgata Winter Open in the preliminary $5,000 No Limit Hold'em event, earning $226,100. Dwan participated in the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship where in his first match he defeated Phil Hellmuth in the third hand of play when Dwan's pocket tens cracked Hellmuth's Pocket Aces when Dwan made a set on the turn. Dwan was eliminated in next round when he was defeated by Mike Matusow. At the 2008 Five-Star World Poker Classic (the $25,500 WPT Championship) Dwan finished in ninth place, earning $184,670. In his last hand his opponent Cory Carroll in late position raised to 350,000 in chips, Dwan from the cutoff raised all-in and was called by Carroll holding to Dwan's . The flop came , improving Carroll's hand to a pair of Jacks with Dwan still ahead with a pair of Kings. However, the turn brought the giving Carroll two pair, with the river card being a useless , winning Carroll the pot and eliminating Dwan. World Series of Poker Dwan cashed twice in the first year that he was eligible to play in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) event held in the United States, in his first cash Dwan made the final table in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event at the 2008 World Series of Poker finishing in 8th place, earning $54,144 then he nearly made another in a seven person final table when he finished again 8th place, this time in the $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw with Rebuys event, earning $45,110. As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $950,000. Notes External links *PokerListings.com - Interview *CardPlayer TV Interview of Tom Dwan about his Million dollar challenge Category:American poker players